Safer Sex Intervention is a clinic-based individualized intervention designed to reduce sexual risk behaviors and prevent the recurrence of sexually transmitted infection (STI) among young women ages 13 to 23 diagnosed with an STI. Safer Sex Intervention was designed to be delivered at the time of STI diagnosis and/or treatment, when the young woman is most likely to be contemplating her sexual risk behaviors. The intervention is administered one-on-one and face-to-face by a female health educator in a single 30- to 50-minute session. The session follows one of two intervention guides, selected on the basis of the young woman’s discussion with the educator and her self-identified stage of behavior change.
Original study
The original study was a randomized controlled trial of the intervention compared to standard care, designed to determine the effect of the Safer sex Intervention on condom use and recurrent STI among female adolescents diagnosed as having an STI. One hundred twenty-three patients ages 13 to 23 with cervicitis or pelvic inflammatory disease were enrolled from an outpatient adolescent clinic or inpatient adolescent service of an urban children’s hospital.
Compared to control participants, young women receiving the Safer Sex Intervention had increased sexual risk knowledge and more positive attitudes toward condoms and tended to report using condoms more with a non-main partner at one month, lower likelihood of sex with a non-main partner at six months, and a tendency toward lower likelihood of having a current main partner and of having recurrent STI at 12 months.
Planning a replication
The intervention materials are available for purchase from Dr. Shrier, and an adaptation kit is available for free from ETR Associates. Additional materials, including brochures, a video, and gifts tailored to the local population and context, are purchased separately. Dr. Shrier is available for training and consultation. Please see below for more information.
EVIDENCE FROM PRIOR REPLICATIONS: As part of the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative, the Federal Office of Adolescent Health awarded almost $6.5 million to sites across the U.S. to replicate the Safer Sex Intervention. View a program description and overview from the Office of Adolescent Health's Pregnancy Prevention Intervention Implementation Report.
PROGRAM MATERIALS: The manual and proprietary tools needed to implement the Safer Sex Intervention are available for purchase from Dr. Shrier. Additional materials, including brochures, a video, and gifts tailored to the local population and context, are purchased separately. Recommendations for these additional materials can be provided on request. To inquire, please fill out our request form or email safersex@childrens.harvard.edu. If the hyperlinked request form does not work, try copying this link and pasting it into your web browser: https://forms.gle/UFE5y61qCg7m6L2cA.
ADAPTATION KIT: A Safer Sex Intervention adaptation kit is available for free electronically from ETR Associates. The adaptation kit was created to give healthcare practitioners the resources and tools they need to guide them in creating effective adaptations of the Safer Sex Intervention program. The kit details the intervention’s core components and helps ensure that adaptations are safely and accurately implemented. Note that the adaptation kit was developed based on the version of the Safer Sex Intervention available in 2011. There may be minor differences in language and content from the current version of the intervention. Read the Safer Sex Intervention Adaptation Kit.
TRAINING AND CONSULTANCY: As developer of the Safer Sex Intervention, Dr. Shrier is uniquely suited to provide consultation regarding the intent, content, and design of the replication intervention, as well as its fidelity to the original intervention. To inquire, please fill out our request form or email safersex@childrens.harvard.edu. If the hyperlinked request form does not work, try copying this link and pasting it into your web browser: https://forms.gle/UFE5y61qCg7m6L2cA.
About Lydia A. Shrier
Lydia A. Shrier, MD, MPH, is research director for the Division of Adolescent/Young Adult Medicine and co-director of the Center for Adolescent Behavioral Health (CABHRe) at Boston Children's Hospital, and Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. She completed a fellowship in adolescent medicine at Boston Children's Hospital and received a master's of public health degree in maternal-child health from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Dr. Shrier's research focuses on mental health and risk behavior in adolescents and young adults. Learn about Dr. Shrier's research.
